Electric radiant heating



Jan. 26, 1954 2,667,563

J. M ORLLY ELECTRIC RADIANT HEATING Filed Feb. 17, 1951 FIG.- 2 32 JOSEPH McORLLY 4 \NVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 2 6, 1954 UNITED STATES vATENT OFFICE 2,667,563 ELECTRIC RADIANT HEATING Joseph McOrlly, 'Wilkinsburg, Pa., assignor to Edwin L. Wiegand Company, Pittsburgh, Pa a 1 corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 17, 1951, Serial No. 211,557

3 Claims.

1 My invention relates to electric radiant'heating, and the principal object of my invention is to provide an improvedheater of that type.

In the drawingsaccompanying this specification and forming a part of this application I have shown for purposes 'of illustration what I now consider to be the best mode of carrying my "invention into practice, and in these drawings:

The illustrated heater comprises an elongated housing structure ll preferably formed from extruded aluminum, provided along its rear surface with two longitudinally extending ribs 12 constructed to be gripped by suitable supporting clamps, and provided in its forward'surface with an approximately parabolic concavity I3 having along each edge a recess [4 and a lip 15.

Closing the ends of the concavity 13 are end i plates IS secured to the housing structure ll by machine screws I1, and mounted in the concavity l3'area pair of divider plates [9 dividing theconcavity [3 into an extended central section 2i! and two relativelyrshort endsections 2!.

.As herein shown, each of the end plates 16 comprises an angular extension 18, each of the divider plates 19 comprises'an angular extension 22 serving as :a cover for the respective end section #21, and each of the divider plates [9 is held in position by interengagement with the housing lips 15 and by machine screws 23 securing the-outer end of the cover-section-Zl to theangular extension l8 of the respective end plate I6.

Mounted in the cavity I3, extending longitudinally thereof, is an elongated metal-sheath resistor-electric radiant heating element Zttraversing the 'central'section 20, extending through apertures 25 in the divider plates I9, and including terminal pins 26 electrically insulated from the 'element'sheath 27, and to the pins 25 are welded connection terminals 28 each comprisinga screw-threaded aperture 29 and-a screw 39 -received .in the respective aperture 29" and arranged toibind a supply conductor in electrical :connection with the respective terminal 28 and x thus ":with ithe 'rrespective' terminal pin 26,

According to the present disclosure the radiant heating element 24 is designed to maintain the sheath '21 substantially at the temperature to radiate predominantly the particular wave length that may be desired, for example, infra red, and is approximately triangular in cross section and located substantially at the focus'of the parabolic contour of the concavity 13, with one of its faces disposed substantially in a plane parallel to the plane of the two forward edges of the housing structure H, whereby heat from that face is transmitted directly, and'only the heat from the other two faces is required to be reflected.

Preferably the concave forward face of the housing structure II is overlaid by a thin sheet desirably formed .of anodized rolled aluminum, thus providing a reflecting surface affording 'higherreflectionand less'susceptible to deterioration, and inasmuch as it can be inserted at the conclusion of the manufacturing processes, avoiding the possibility 'of the surface being damaged during-the manufacture of the heater.

For the purpose 'of' supporting'the element 24 the heater comprises two' electrical insulating mounting bodies '32 disposed in the end portions 2! of the concavity I3, each secured in position by a inachine'screw 33 passing through a longitudinal aperture 34 in the respective body 32 and engaged in a cooperating screw threaded aperture in the respective end plate It, and each 7 comprising a longitudinal slideway 35 receiving the respective connection terminal 28, whereby the bodies 32 support the element 24 by means of the terminals 28.

In the present embodiment the terminals 28 are longitudinally movable in the respective slideways '35, thereby to provide for longitudinal expansion and contraction of the heating element 26 upon heating and cooling, and also to permit ready insertion or removal of the element 2d, the-element being removed by shifting it longitudinally in one direction to withdraw one of the terminals 28 from the respective slideway 35, swinging that end of the element 24 outwardly, and then-shifting the element longitudinally in the other direction, to similarly Withdraw the other terminal 28 from its slideway 35, and being inserted by the reverse of this procedure. I

To prevent accidental displacement of the element, each of the bodies 32 is provided with a longitudinal recess 35 receiving the tail of the respective binding screw 30, but terminatingshort of the forward end of the body 32, thus providing an end wallB-I engaged by the tail of the screw 30 when the screw is in normal seated position, and thereby preventing removal of the element unless and until the screw 30 has been moved to raised position.

In many instances it is advantageous to connect both supply conductors at the same end of the heater, and to this purpose the housing H is provided with a longitudinal channel 38 extending between the two end sections 2! of the cavity [3, overlaid by the reflector 3|, and ar ranged to receive a conductor 39 extending from the binding screw 3!] at the other end of the element 24 and connected by means of a binding screw 46 to a terminal plate 41 received in a second slideway 42 in the illu trated body 32 and provided with a further binding screw 43 for receiving the second supply conductor.

To permit connection of the supply conductors at either end of the heater, the other body 32 is of the same construction, so that the arrangement may readily be reversed, and to prevent accidental displacement of the terminal plate 4!, each of the bodies 32 is provided with a longitudinal recess 44 receiving the tails of the screws 40 and 43, but terminating short of the forward end of the body 32, thus providing an end wall 45 engaged by the tails of the screws 40 and 43, and thereby preventing removal of the plate 4! unless and until the screws 40 and 43 have been moved to raised position.

As will be understood, the bodies 32, being of electrical insulating material, provide secondary insulation for the element 24, and to complete this insulation the element is received in the divider plate apertures 25 in electrical insulating bushings 46 each comprising two complementary sections 4! together forming a complete separation bet een the element 24 and the respective divider plate l9.

As appears particularly in Figure 1, in the present embodiment each bushing section 4'! is provided with a peri heral groove 48 receiving the wall of the res ective divider plate [9, wherebv the bushings 46 are normally retained in position, but are readily removable through the open side of the aperture 25 uponremoval of the respective divider plate l9 from assembled position.

If the length of the element 24 between the plates I9 is such that the element is likely to deform from rectilinear, desirably the heater comprises one or more intermediate plates, not shown, each of which may be supported from the housing structure lips l similarly to the plates 19, and each of which is desirably provided with a further bushing 46 thereby to maintain the secondary insulation of the element 24.

To provide for entrance of the supply conductors, in the present embodiment each end portion of the housing structure II is provided with an opening 5!! preferably screw threaded to accommodate an insulating bushing, conductor conduit, cable fitting, or the like, depending on the form of wiring.

To provide for assembling a plurality of heaters in side by side relation, in the present embodiment each side of the housing structure H is provided with a longitudinally extending undercut groove 5| arranged to receive one end of each of one or more tie members, such as the member 52, the other end or ends of which are similarly received in the similar groove along the adjacent side of the adjacent heater, and preferably the ends of the members 52 are angularly movable in the respective grooves 5|, thereby to 4 permit the heaters to be disposed in adjustable angular relation.

As will be understood, various changes and modifications may be made, and therefore the present disclosure is to be regarded as illustrative only, and the scope of my invention is as defined in the claims.

Wherefore I claim:

1. An electric heater comprising an elongated housing structure providing an elongated outwardly directed cavity, an elongated resistor element disposed in said cavity and extending longitudinally thereof and provided at its ends with electrical connection terminals, each of said terminals comprising a tongue and a bolt connection for securing an electrical supply connector, mounting means secured within said cavity at longitudinally spaced-apart portions of said housing, each of said mounting means having a recess for slidably receiving and holding a tongue of a respective terminal, and said mounting means being spaced-apart a lesser distance than the distance between said terminals so that said element is assembled with said mounting means by inserting one tongue into a recess of one mounting means and longitudinally moving said element toward said one mounting means to dispose said one tongue inwardly of its recess sufficiently so that the opposite tongue may be aligned with the recess of the other mounting means, and longitudinally moving said element in an opposite direction and withdrawing said one tongue from its recess sufiiciently to seat said other tongue in its recess whereby said eiement is properly supported between said mountirig means, and each of said mounting means having a slot for receiving a portion of the bolt of the respective terminal, each of said slots providing an abutment wall engageable with a respective bolt portion to restrict longitudinal movement of said element an amount sufiicient to prevent disassembly of said element from said mounting means, assembly and disassembly of said element being effected when said bolt portions are withdrawn from respective slots.

2. An electric radiant heater comprising an elongated housing open at one side to provide a heating element receiving cavity, a pair of mounting members disposed in longitudinally spaced relation within said cavity, said members each having an elongated guide recess and an elongated guide slot disposed in spaced substantially parallel relation, said guide recesses and slots being respectively open and closed at their inner ends in respect to the ends of said housing, an elongated heating element carried by said members within said cavity, and a pair of tongue members secured to the opposite ends of said heating element for connecting said heating element to a source of electric current, the free ends of said tongue members slidably engaging said mounting member recesses for removably securing said heating element to said mounting members and to compensate for longitudinal expansion and contraction of said element, and retractable stop means fitting within said slots when in looking position to prevent inadvertent removal of said heating element, and being withdrawable from said slots to provide for removal of said heating element.

3. An electric radiant heater comprising an elongated housing open at one side to provide a heating element receiving cavity, a pair of mounting members disposed in longitudinally spaced relation Within said cavity, said members each having an elongated guide recess and an elongated guide slot disposed in spaced substantially parallel relation, said guide recesses and slots being respectively open and closed at their inner ends in respect to the ends of said housing, an elongated heating element carried by said members within said cavity, and a pair of tongue members secured to the opposite ends of said heating element, each of said tongue members having a movable screw member thereon disposed within the guide slot of a said mounting member and for connecting said heating element to a source of electric current, the free ends of said tongue members slidably engaging said mounting member recesses for removably securing said heating element to said mounting members and to compensate for longitudinal expansion and contraction of said element, the free ends of said screw members being positioned for engagement with the closed ends of said slots when said screw members are in position to connect said heating element to said source of electric current to limit sliding movement of said tongue members along their recesses and to prevent unintentional removal of said heating element from mounted position, and said screw 6 members being movable to retract their free ends from engagement with the closed ends of said slots to provide for sliding movement of the said tongues an amount suflicient to clear a tongue from its recess.

JOSEPH McORLLY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 606,792 Quidas July 5, 1898 871,153 Wicker Nov. 19, 1907 1,147,951 Kitchen July 27, 1915 1,365,554 Shoenberg Jan. 11, 1921 1,571,282 Leculier Feb. 2, 1926 2,288,941 Curtis July 7, 1942 2,413,536 Wiegand Dec. 31, 1946 2,428,900 Wiegand Oct. 14, 1947 2,495,513 Doyle Jan. 24, 1950 2,590,417 Jones Mar. 25, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 510,807 Great Britain Aug. 9, 1939 591,752 Great Britain Aug. 27, 1947 

